The man suspected of driving a car into a crowd in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday, killing two people, has recently undergone treatment at a psychiatric hospital, authorities have said.
The 33-year-old German national allegedly drove the vehicle at high speed down a main street in the historic centre of Leipzig, leaving two dead and many others wounded.
A 63-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man, both German citizens, died at the scene. Police have said many others were injured but have yet to give a precise figure.
The suspect was arrested at the scene. Officials have said they do not believe he was acting from a political or religious motive.
The regional health ministry in Saxony has said the alleged perpetrator stayed for a short period at a specialist mental-health hospital “on a voluntary basis”, and was discharged at the end of April.
“During his stay at the clinic, there was no danger to himself or others,” the ministry said in a statement to AFP.
“There were therefore no medical grounds to prevent the patient, who was in the clinic of his own free will, from leaving the clinic or to detain him there against his will.”
Authorities have declined to give further details about the suspect’s condition, citing patient confidentiality. He is being investigated on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, according to police, who believe he acted alone.
German tabloid Bild and local broadcaster MDR have reported that the man had admitted himself to the psychiatric facility but was asked to leave on Sunday because of aggressive behaviour towards other patients. It is unclear whether the institution alerted police on his release, as is required when a patient could pose a danger.
On Tuesday, the street where the incident took place remained cordoned off as police searched the area. Residents and students laid flowers and lit candles at a makeshift memorial near a local church.
University student Dalyan Unland, 20, told AFP he was “deeply affected by the fact that people died … in a place where I walk every day”. Lynn Sue Leiste, 25, said the perpetrator “must be locked up forever”, adding that “security measures really could have been strengthened”.
Germany has been shaken by a series of car-ramming attacks in recent years. Most of the deadly rampages were carried out by people later found to have had psychological problems, though some attackers had political or religious motives.
In December 2016, a Tunisian man with jihadist motives drove a stolen lorry through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people. In December 2024, a Saudi national drove a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, central Germany, killing six people and injuring more than 300. In February 2025, an Afghan driver rammed a vehicle into a march in Munich, southern Germany, killing a mother and her daughter and wounding around 30.
